Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Monday, November 16, 2009

As a child, I was fascinated by adventure books with explorers and pirates and I was dreaming of sailing away… I know, it’s unusual for a girl, but I even learned some sailing and navigation terms.So, when I visited Hakone, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to enjoy the pirate ships from the Lake Ashi.

The pirate ships from Hakone belong to the Odakyu company and are connecting Togendai, the terminal for the Hakone Ropeway, to Motohakone-ko or Hakone-machi. Small travel tip, if you buy a Hakone FreePass, the boat ride is included in the price.

The 4 ships are replicas of real historical ships (but not actual pirate ships). I traveled with The Royal, inspired by a 17th-century French sailing warship named Soleil-Royal, colored in red, with a double-decker promenade and observation deck:

During our sail we also encountered the three other ships:The Vasa, painted emerald green and decorated with ornately sculpted woodwork, built after a ship from the 17th century that belonged to the Swedish King Gustav Adolph…

We already had one fascinating story about a slimming down, the guy has managed to lose about 400 lbs.And here’s a woman from Russia named Svetlana, after one year and a half she lost nearly 155 lbs. And she deserves respect because it wasn’t that easy for her.First, she started to walk every day for 1 km, later – 5 km, another step was going to the gym.But the most stunning thing is her diet:Breakfast: 2 eggs, or a piece of cheese, or porridge, a piece of black chocolate or a spoon of honey, coffee without sugar.Second breakfast: half of a pomegranate, green tea.Lunch: boiled lean meat, fish or a chicken breast, fresh vegetable salad with vegetable oil, green tea.Snack: a handful of shelled seeds, green apple, grapefruit or pomegranate.Dinner: green tea.Now let's look at the fruit of her efforts.